


Under the Light of a Thousand Stars

by Emma_Cresswell



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: A small dash of Mariette and Jelma, F/M, Modern AU, Soulmate AU, e/e, enjonine - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 14:44:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9186815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emma_Cresswell/pseuds/Emma_Cresswell
Summary: Soulmate AU where everyone has a watch that tells how long you and your soulmates have left to find each other or else you both will die.Enjolras doesn't believe in soulmates. He's not too keen on the idea of dying, but he'd rather die than be forced into a relationship. Éponine desperately wants to find her soulmate, but no one she meets stops the countdown of her watch. When they meet, their countdown doesn't stop. They don't fall in love. They're merely friends. Really, that's all. Nothing more. At least that's what they tell themselves....





	

**Author's Note:**

> Soulmate AU where everyone has a watch that tells how long you and your soulmates have left to find each other or else you both will die. Very similar to the Soulmate AU where everyone has a watch that counts down to the moment when you meet your soulmate. But I actually like this idea better because it's more uncertain and it raises the stakes tremendously. 
> 
> Title inspired by Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud."
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Les Mis or any of the characters within it.

Four years, seventeen minutes, and fifty-nine seconds. That’s how much time he had left to live. At least, that’s how much time he had left to live three and a half years ago. That was right after he had graduated high school. He remembered the resolve he felt, pulling his sleeve over the watch. If he was going to die, he might as well act as if he didn’t care. It was a rebellion. A statement to show how Enjolras really felt about the whole soulmate thing.

In all honesty, Enjolras didn’t believe in soulmates at all. There wasn’t one person destined to be your fate. At least there shouldn’t be.

There couldn’t be.

Even as Enjolras faced the last six months of his death, he refused to change his views. Soulmates didn’t exist. And even if they did, it was stupid to place your life on the hopes of finding a soulmate.

If Enjolras was going to die, he might as well go out with a bang.

***

Éponine only had six months left to live. Apparently, loneliness was a terminal illness. And the only cure was finding your true love. Your soulmate.

At this point, Éponine was running out of options. Every time she met someone new, she hoped that her watch would do that beeping thing and unclasp itself, falling from her wrist. But it never did. Every stranger’s hand she shook had no affect. The watch still held on, it’s grip ever getting tighter.

Éponine didn’t want to die. She wanted to spend the remainder of her days with her soulmate. But no one ever set her heart racing, no one ever made her blush, no one ever undid her watch.

She had six months left. Six months…

***

They met in their British literature class. Paired together for a group assignment on Charles Dickens. At first, they didn’t quite get along. But after a rousing discussion on _A Tale of Two Cities_ , they both decided the other wasn’t half bad. And so a friendship was born.

He introduced her to his friends. Les Amis de l’ABC as they liked to call themselves. They were all nice enough. None her soulmates, though. She let herself get hopeful with a man named Marius. He was kind, he was attractive, he was everything Éponine hoped her soulmate would be. But during their first meeting, she noticed the bare spot on his wrist as they shook hands. And then later during that same evening, he left their conversation to talk to a pretty blonde in the corner.

The blonde’s wrist was also bare.

It didn’t take long for Éponine to put two and two together.

So none of Les Amis were her soulmates. That was fine. She and Enjolras got along well enough, so at least she finally had someone to call her friend.

But the topic of soulmates never came up in their conversations.

***

When Éponine’s clock counted down to five months, she decided to introduce her sister to her group of friends.

Azelma introduced herself the same way Éponine had. Shaking hands with the boys, one at a time. But something peculiar happened when she got to Jean Prouvaire. Their hands met and their watches started beeping. The pair watched in shock as their watches unclasped themselves and fell to the floor. The room was then filled with congratulations to the pair. Both were a bit shy, but as the party continued on, they warmed up to each other.

Their watches still had two years left on their countdown when they fell off.

Éponine watched the couple with a mixture of happiness and jealousy. Happy that her sister finally found her happily ever after. But jealous that Azelma no longer had the burden of searching for her soulmate like Éponine did. She no longer had death looming over her like a dead goose.

Enjolras noticed his friend’s look of jealousy, but said nothing.

***

The countdown reached four months when the pair finally had a discussion on soulmates.

Éponine had explained Jehan’s and Azelma’s budding relationship for a great deal of class. Enjolras finally decided to comment on Éponine’s apparent jealousy.

“Why shouldn’t I be envious?” Éponine explained. “Azelma’s already found her love. Now she can live a long and happy life with Jehan.”

“So you want to find your soulmate?” Enjolras asked.

Éponine laughed at that. “Yeah, I want to live. Don’t you?”

Enjolras merely shrugged.

Éponine’s eyebrows scrunched together at that answer. “You don’t want to live?”

“No, I want to live,” Enjolras said with a short laugh. “But I think it’s stupid. The whole soulmate thing. Basing your death on the one hope of finding a ‘true love.’ It’s screwed up.”

“Maybe,” Éponine said with a shrug. “But it’s romantic in a twisted sort of way. Knowing that you’re going to die unless you find someone to spend the rest of your days with. I think it’s sweet.”

“It’s delusional,” Enjolras retorted. “Soulmates don’t exist. I’m sure I could live a happy life with multiple people. Your supposed soulmate could just be one of many people who you can love.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, take us for example. We’re good friends. I could see myself living a happy live with you. But we’re not soulmates.”

“Living a happy life with me?” Éponine said with a playful smirk as she gently nudged Enjolras. “Enjy, did you just admit you like me?”

Enjolras blushed at the comment. “You know what I mean, ‘Ponine.”

Éponine glanced down at her friend’s right wrist where his watch was covered by the sleeve of his red jacket. “So how long do you have left?”

Enjolras shrugged. “A few months, I think.”

“Don’t you know?”

“I haven’t looked at my watch since I was eighteen,” Enjolras explained. “I have a general idea of when I’m going to die, but I’m not entirely sure.”

“So any minute you could just fall down dead. That doesn’t sound very reassuring,” Éponine said, suddenly fearing that her friend would suddenly die before her eyes.

“First of all, I already explained that I have a general idea of when my death is,” Enjolras said, giving Éponine a stern look. “Second of all, I find it more reassuring than counting down the seconds to my doom. Yeah, I might be surprised when I die. But it’s nice not to worry about it. To just let it go.”

Éponine frowned. “I wish I could be that nonchalant about my death.”

“Well, just stop worrying about your soulmate, then,” Enjolras said. “If you meet your supposed soulmate before you die, great. If you don’t, well, you’ve lived a good life.”

“Comforting,” Éponine laughed, though she was beginning to contemplate her friend’s suggestion. Maybe there was a method to his madness.

“Anyway,” Enjolras continued. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it, ‘Ponine. You’re smart, you’re pretty, you’re nice. You’ll find someone soon enough.”

***

Three months left when Enjolras relented to his friends' requests and asked Éponine out on a date. It was small and simple. Just sharing a sundae at an ice cream parlor, really. But it was what both of them needed.

"I'm surprised you're doing this," Éponine told him, taking another bite of the chocolate sundae. "I thought you were against the whole soulmate thing."

"You're not my soulmate," he explained, waving his spoon at her. "Therefore, I am not supporting the soulmate cause."

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. I thought you were against finding love, how about that?"

This time, he rolled his eyes. "I never said that."

"You said you could marry anyone."

"I said I can marry multiple different people and that I didn't believe in one designated soulmate. I never said I was against love. Stop trying to quote me. You clearly don't pay attention when I talk."

She giggled at the argument, once again dipping her spoon into the ice cream. "To be fair, you're always so angsty when you talk."

"No I'm not!"

"I'm Enjolras and I think the government is screwed up and that soulmates don't exist," Éponine said in a pinched, nasally voice which Enjolras supposed was an imitation of him.

"I do not sound like that," Enjolras argued, though he was smiling as he said it.

"You're right, you don't sound like that," Éponine said, a playful grin upon her face. "Your voice is much more annoying."

They pair broke into a wave of laughter as they then tried to imitate each other's voices. Éponine was so busy laughing at Enjolras's high pitched impression of her that for once, the thought of her watch was not nagging at the back of her mind.

***

Two months left. Jehan and Azelma announce their engagement the same week as Marius and Cosette. The courtships seemed much too short to Éponine. But then again, if you know who you're soulmate is, why wait?

The two couples both unknowingly scheduled their weddings just before Éponine's supposed death. She was happy for her friends and sister, but saddened that she would die so shortly after the wedding ceremonies.

Enjolras caught her staring at the two wedding announcements during Brit Lit one day. "What's wrong?" He whispered to her.

"It's so close," Éponine explained, gesturing to her watch. "I mean, I'm glad I'll get to see Azelma get married. But I won't be able to see anything after that. I'll never get to meet any of my future nieces and nephews."

"Don't get discouraged. You still have two months left," Enjolras encouraged, trying to cheer his friend up. It saddened him to see her in such a crestfallen state.

"Marius's wedding is in a month, Azelma's is a few weeks after that. I won't find anyone before then."

"You will," he said. "I believe in you."

She gave him a weak smile as she tucked the two invitations into her notebook. "Thank you Enjolras," she said. "I'm glad we're friends."

"Me too."

***

One month left when Éponine found herself wearing hideous pink dress. She never should have agreed to be Cosette's bridesmaid. She should've known her friend would've picked the brightest, most flowery dresses possible. She felt like a walking flower.

When Enjolras found her at the reception that night, he burst out into a wave of laughter.

"Stop laughing," Éponine commanded through clenched teeth. "It's. Not. Funny."

"Serious Éponine in an Easter dress," Enjolras said between laughs, shaking his head. "I never thought I'd see such a sight."

"I'm a few seconds away from tearing this off," Éponine said, gesturing to the puffy sleeves and ribboned hem.

"Well, despite what you think, you actually look nice," Enjolras said, still smiling.

"Not as nice as you," Éponine replied, gesturing to Enjolras's sleek suit. "You think Cosette would complain if we switched outfits?"

"I would complain," Enjolras exclaimed, once again laughing. "Sorry, Éponine. You're stuck like this for the rest of the night."

Éponine scowled but quickly joined Enjolras in his laughter. The pair was still giggling as the music started and the newlywed couple began dancing. Éponine watched the graceful pair waltz across the floor. Éponine's giggles faded into a content sigh as her friends continued to dance. "They're a cute couple."

"They are," Enjolras agreed. "Almost makes me believe in soulmates."

Éponine gave Enjolras an incredulous look. He laughed. "Almost, 'Ponine. Almost."

She smiled at him. "Well, maybe there's hope for you yet."

He returned the smile with one of his own. "Maybe."

They spent the rest of the evening watching couples dance.

***

Three weeks on the countdown and one week before Azelma's scheduled wedding, Éponine received a phone call. She was a bit alarmed when she saw her sister's name on the caller ID.

"Hello?" She said as she answered the phone.

"'Ponine?" Her sister's voice asked.

"Yeah. What's wrong?" Éponine asked, becoming more panicked.

"Oh Éponine, I have some bad news," Azelma said.

"What?" Éponine said, bracing herself for whatever misfortune Azelma had to share.

"There was a miscommunication and the church Jehan and I were supposed to get married in is getting a new carpet. On our wedding day!"

"Oh," Éponine sighed in relief. "I was expecting something bad."

"It is bad!" Azelma exclaimed. "Now we have to reschedule the wedding and send out new invitations and…ugh, planning a wedding is hard! Stupid carpet…"

Éponine laughed. "I'm sorry, that is awful."

"Anyway, we got a new date set, but I wanted to make sure it was okay with you."

Éponine blinked in surprise. "Why?"

"Well, I know your watch is…well…it's coming up for you."

She glanced down at her ticking watch. "You want to make sure I'm still alive for the wedding?"

"Yeah," Azelma said, suddenly sounding a bit more timid. "It's on the twenty-third. It's the earliest date we could get, so if it doesn't work out…well, I don't know what we'll do."

"The twenty third?" Éponine said, looking at the calendar tacked to her apartment wall. She froze when she saw it was exactly three weeks away. Doing the math in her head, she realized that she was scheduled to die the same day her sister was to be wed.

Éponine was at a loss for what she should say. Well, what could she say? She wanted her sister to be happy. And have a member of your family die the same night you get married wasn't exactly a happy thing. But, though it was a selfish thought, Éponine desperately wanted to see her sister get married…

"'Ponine?"

"It looks like we're good," Éponine lied. "That's a week out from when my countdown ends."

"Really?" Azelma exclaimed, the relief clear in her voice. "Oh, good. I was worried you wouldn't be able to make it."

"Oh, I'll be there," Éponine said. "You can count on me."

The sisters chatted for a bit longer before Éponine told Azelma that she had some homework to get to and hung up. After the the phone call ended, Éponine finally broke down and cried.

***

Two weeks left when Enjolras finally broke down and looked at his watch. He had been so determined to stay strong until the end. He had been so determined not to even peek at his watch. But as he returned home from school one evening, he couldn't take the stress anymore. He forcefully pulled back his jacket sleeve to look upon the watch's face. He immediately regretted it.

His resolve was gone. The four years of resistance he had built up was dashed to pieces within a matter of seconds. And what was worse is that he now had his death date looming over him.

April twenty-third. The day of Azelma's and Jehan's wedding.

What would he tell Éponine?

***

One week. Enjolras and Éponine go on another date to an amusement park. They both noticed an unspoken melancholy in each other, but decided to say nothing. They spent the whole day riding roller coasters and eating greasy pretzels. The pair ended up in a photo booth where they took a round of silly photos.

They giggled over the strip of pictures and Enjolras presented the strip to his date with a smile. She returned the smile with one of her own as she accepted the pictures, but once she got home, she broke down and began crying. She curled up onto her sofa and sobbed, clutching the pictures to her chest.

***

The day of the wedding eventually came. Éponine woke up with thirteen hours left on her clock. She couldn't help but feel nervous as she dressed into her navy blue bridesmaid gown and her fingers shook as they pinned up her dark hair.

Six hours as she drove to the church and helped set up.

Three hours when the wedding finally started.

Two when the reception started.

Éponine allowed herself to get lost in the happiness of the moment, standing in line with Azelma and laughing at her sister's jokes. But once her clock moved down to an hour left, Éponine found she could not ignore the fear that gripped her. Suddenly feeling dizzy, she excused herself from the line and took a seat at a vacant table.

Forty-two minutes when Enjolras approached her.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked, though he was already taking the empty seat next to Éponine.

Éponine shook her head as she pressed a hand to her forehead. She was beginning to get a headache and couldn't help but wonder if this is what dying feels like.

"You don't look too good. Are you feeling okay?" Enjolras asked.

"I should be asking you that," Éponine said, noticing her friend's pale complexion and trembling fingers.

Enjolras shook his head. "Just feeling a bit under the weather."

Éponine shrugged. "If you say so."

Nineteen minutes. They talked until Enjolras stopped suddenly. "Do you want to dance?" he asked.

"Pardon?"

"Do you want to dance?" Enjolras repeated. "We're at a wedding, so we might as well, right?"

Éponine was a bit taken aback by the random suggestion. Nevertheless, she allowed Enjolras to guide her to the dance floor.

They silently waltzed for a while to some sappy love ballads that Éponine didn't recognize. It wasn't until an Ed Sheeran song came on that Éponine realized how close the end really was. Here she was, down to the last ten minutes of her life. And what was she doing? She was dancing to an Ed Sheeran song.

Every part of Éponine told her to stop, to run away. To say goodbye to Azelma, to do something more with the last few moments of her life. But she couldn't move. All she could do was stare into Enjolras's blue eyes as he lead her across the dance floor.

So honey now

Take me into your loving arms

Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars

Place your head on my beating heart

I'm thinking out loud

Maybe we found love right where we are

Éponine closed her eyes to stop the onslaught of tears that threatened to fall as the final chorus finished up. There was a pause before a Christina Perri song started playing. The couples around them continued to dance, but Éponine and Enjolras stayed still, doing nothing but looking at each other with regret.

Finally, Éponine broke the spell. She pulled away from her friend, running away from it all. From Enjolras, from the wedding, from everything. She heard Enjolras calling after her, but didn't stop until she was outside the building.

Five minutes.

Enjolras eventually caught up as Éponine leaned against the wall to cry. He silently sat by her, placing a reassuring hand on her arm. "This was a bad idea," she sobbed.

"Why?" 

She answered by holding up her wrist. Four minutes left and counting. "I'm going to die. On the night of Azelma's wedding. Gosh, I'm an awful sister."

Enjolras gave her a said smile as he pulled back his suit coat sleeve. "You're not the only one."

His countdown was synchronized with her's. They were almost down to three minutes.

"But I thought you said you didn't care about the countdown," Éponine said, wiping away the tears that streaked her cheeks.

"I didn't. Until you came along. Then I realized that I didn't want to die if you were still living."

"Well, I guess you don't have to worry about that now since we're going out together," Éponine replied with a bitter laugh, but her voice dropped to a small whisper as she continued. "But in all honesty, I wish that we could've done more together."

He gave her a weak smile. "Me too."

They sat in silence as their clocks then counted down to two minutes.

"You know, Éponine, if I could pick a soulmate, I would've picked you," Enjolras said, breaking the silence.

"You're actually acknowledging the existence of soulmates?" Éponine asked with a small laugh.

"Only if you're the soulmate in question."

One minute.

She turned to him and clasped his hand in her own. "Gosh, I'm in love with you."

Fifty-two seconds. Fifty-one, fifty, forty-nine....

"I love you, too," he replied, brushing a dark curl out of her face with his free hand.

Forty, thirty-nine, thirty-eight...

"I'm scared of dying," she whispered.

"Me too," he admitted. "But at least we're together, right?"

Thirty-one, thirty...

"Yeah, at least we're together."

Twenty-six seconds when Enjolras finally snapped and brought Éponine to him. Their lips met and at first Éponine was surprised at the sudden show of affection, but eventually melts into his embrace.

Seventeen, sixteen, fifteen, fourteen...

He pulled away, but they end up kissing again. This time, it's Éponine who kissed first.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two...

Their watches begin beeping as they pull away for a second time. Both watched in shock as the watches unclasped themselves and fell to the ground with resounding thuds. Éponine looked up at her love in confusion. "How...?"

He gave her a small smile. "Maybe it just took us a little longer to realize we were soulmates."

She returned the smile. "Or maybe you were right. Maybe there is no such thing as soulmates. Maybe we get to decide who our true love is."

Whatever the reason, they didn't care at the moment. The reason would probably go unsolved, but at least they could now live out the rest of their lives. Together.

Éponine kicked off her high heels and let down her hair. Enjolras shrugged off his coat and undid his tie. And then they began dancing again. A slow dance to an unheard song. They managed to wait a few minutes before going in for another kiss.

A kiss under the light of a thousand stars.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope ya'll enjoyed. Comments/kudos are much appreciated (Especially if you have constructive feedback. We authors are always looking for ways to improve our work). But you can do what you want.


End file.
